sybarites

I originally made the Winter-spiced Molten Cocolate Cakes for a dinner party last year. As the name suggests, they are great for a cold winter’s night. The recipe calls for ginger-rum ice cream. Softening ice cream and then folding in ginger and rum is extremely touchy. The ice cream can easily turn to ice. We didn’t even attempt it this time.

I thought the cakes would be hard to make. The outside needs to be cooked enough to hold the cake together and the center must remain raw, but warm. I’ve made them twice without much problems. As long as the batter is cold, it works out well.

Jan’s parents were coming to try the lamb recipe and her mom, Jo-Anne, really likes chocolate. We thought she would enjoy these. There is a lot of coriander, cardamom and cinnamon with a little clove and white pepper. The spices are an interesting addition and add a lot of flavour. The plating would be a little prettier if I had remembered to dust the cake with powdered sugar and top them with candied ginger. Jo-Anne couldn’t resist polishing off her smaller portion but the rest of were unable to work our way through the richness of the cakes.

I’ve been thinking of using similar ingredients and flavours to make a winter-spiced hot chocolate.

Janet left me to find something for us eat for breakfast because she was busy doing laundry. My first thoughts were eggs and toast, but there were only two eggs and the focaccia went moldy. I had to get creative with the odds and ends in the fridge. This turned out to be an inspiring challenge.

The chili sauce and cilantro in the fridge had some possibilities, but I wasn’t sure how that would go with bacon or cheese. There were more ingredients for an Italian theme. My first thought was to do the dish with toast. Holly took me to the Wildwood for brunch one day where I was served something with polenta. I can’t quite recall what it was. The polenta was a great alternative. The corn flavor complimented everything. I had criticised my plating recently, so I went vertical like we see on Made to Order.

The result was Tower of Breakfast with Bacon Roses. Starting from the bottom, the layers were:

• Broiled Polenta with Parmesan and butter
• Omelette with Pepper
• Ribbons of Sun Dried Tomato
• Spicy Italian Sausage
• Parsley
• Shaved Parmesan

I rolled up the bacon to finish off the plate. I had closed off the kitchen to make sure she say no hints of what I was making. Everything was tasty, even the sausage that had been in the freezer too long. Presentation really does make everything taste better. Jan was quite impressed. She polished off her plate well before I finished.

This is the first time, in the history of our relationship together, that Sam and I have received rabies vaccinations in the same week. Though his dosage is one third the cost of mine- I expect that’s because he weighs 40lbs. and I weigh considerably more than that. At least now, I have some sympathy for his anxiety at being at the vet’s. Poor little puppy, sitting up on that cold, metal table, too anxious to eat the treats that the vet offers and trying his best to smash his body into my arms and crawl onto my shoulders just to get off that table and away from Dr. Evil. My experience with the vaccine was much less torturous, but Marc still couldn’t watch the needle.

Anyway, as a means of soothing my conscience for exposing poor Sammy to such trauma, I feed him people food. Not that I go overboard with the treats (that’s what his Grandma is for), but if some beef short ribs should happen to be left on the plate at the end of a meal, and if those short ribs should happen to have a little bit of beef and maybe some yummy, yummy fat on them, who am I to deny this long-suffering dog his wildest dream of ecstasy?

Ergo, when we made Beef Short Ribs in Chipotle and Green Chili Sauce with creamy polenta on Saturday, Sam did get a short window of opportunity to strip a couple of nearly-bare ribs of their meat and have a good, if short, chew on the bones. He didn’t even flinch at the spiciness of the sauce, though it registered as pretty hot by my standards. Perhaps the spice didn’t have an opportunity to touch many taste buds as it was snarfed through to the belly; it’s his treat, he can eat it however he wants (but not the bone). He did spend the better part of two hours “guarding” the meat in the oven, sitting in front of that little window and making sure that the ribs didn’t accidentally fall out of the oven and into his mouth. I hope he feels it was worth all the vaccination pain and guarding/begging efforts.

I, for one, found these to be quite extraordinary. I can’t really put my finger on which spice made them so piquant but I suspect it was the chipotles. We don’t use these very often so I imagine that’s why the taste stood out so much for me- that smoky, spiciness compliments beef so well. I have a beef (ha!) with the chipotle canning people, though: who needs a cup of canned peppers in adobo? It’s too much! We freeze the remainders but months later, we will only remove that baggie from the freezer, classify it as f.u.b.a.r. and toss it, along with all our other bits and pieces of long-forgotten sauce and dough. I would complain but I’m not confident enough in my pronunciation of ‘chipotle’.

About the polenta, I must clear something up: I have no idea what I’m doing. Every time I make this, I read the directions and I follow them; they’re not complicated: boil some salted water, whisk in the polenta, simmer for 40 minutes or so, stir in butter and parmesan, done. My problem is that we must have some sort of instant polenta- I whisk it in and moments later it looks done. But there is no kind of 40 minutes of simmering. It tastes fine.. what am I doing wrong? Is there such a thing as instant polenta, like instant rice? Research results are forthcoming.

Also, we had quite possibly one of the most scrumptious salads I have made to date. I got so carried away trying to “brunoise” the damn shallots that by the time I was ready to assemble the dressing, I had about two tablespoons worth. With a little mustard, oil, champagne vinegar and some shaved parmesan, this ended up being one of the Best Dressings Ever.

For dessert, we split a $5 chocolate bar that was purchased earlier at the Cookbook Company. Actually, they ran out of the Best Chocolate Bar Ever*, so we decided to try this new one as a treat. I don’t know if chocolate, pralines and Highland Whiskey really belong together but I’m pretty certain they shouldn’t be mixed into a ganache filling, encased in “Edelherb” dark chocolate and sold in bar form. Next time, it will be Best Chocolate, or nothing.

* The Best Chocolate Bar Ever is Cafe Noir dark chocolate.